TRRC Scholarship

The Toledo Roadrunners Club Scholarship Fund in Honor of Pam Graver-Koenig

After months of discussions and planning I am proud to announce that the Toledo Roadrunners Club Scholarship Fund in Honor of Pam Graver-Koenig is now a reality. Special thanks to Bridget Holt from the Toledo Community Foundation for all her work and our scholarship creation committee that shaped the scholarship to align the Toledo Roadrunner values and to properly honor Pam Graver-Koening. The committee members are Lori Mahoney, Terri Kaczor, Kevin O’Connor, Tony Bayford, Don Leck, Jim Troknya, JoAnn Wegert, and Pete Buehler.

Pam Graver-Koenig

Pam Graver-Koenig was a special person, an avid runner, and a dynamic contributor to the Toledo Roadrunners Club of historic proportion. Of course, Pam was a member and past president of the TRRC. And there may not be the TRRC Glass City Marathon were it not for Pam. In 1990, after six years without a Glass City Marathon, Pam agreed to help renew the event, became the race director and played major role in the resurrection of a Northwest Ohio running tradition. Pam was also a TRRC Sy Mah Award recipient, the award the club bestows for lifetime achievement to the club and the sport. Pam passed away on July 4, 2011.

The Scholarship

The club wished to honor Pam and so the Toledo Roadrunners Club (TRRC) Scholarship in Memory of Pam Graver-Koenigwas created to award post-secondary educational scholarships to members of the TRRC who demonstrate the spirit of the TRRC in its promotion of the sport and interest of running. The applicant must be a graduating high school senior or undergraduate student who is a member of the TRRC and has been for at least two years before applying for the scholarship. The scholarship award will be at least $500.00, which will be paid directly to the post-secondary institution of the recipient’s choice for the purposes of covering education-related expenses such as tuition, on-campus room and board, and related fees. The scholarship may be renewable.

The scholarship recipient will be chosen by a scholarship selection committee which will consider qualifications including TRRC membership and letters of recommendation from teachers, coaches, employers, etc. that reflect the applicant’s spirit of the TRRC in the promotion of the running and interest in the sport. Personal interviews may be required at the discretion of the selection committee.

Funding

The scholarship will be endowed in the amount of at least $25,000. This seems like a large dollar amount to collect before the club can award a scholarship. The club decided, however, to earmark some of this year’s Glass City Marathon profits to the scholarship fund and this enables the club to immediately donate $11,253.24 to the scholarship fund. How fitting that the event that Pam helped revive will kickstart the funding of the scholarship named in her honor.

Although this is a great start, we can use your help to close the gap on the endowment goal. Please consider giving to the scholarship, whether it is in the memory of Pam or to continue your support of our running community. Any donations to the scholarship are tax deductible (you will receive a tax receipt from the Toledo Community Foundation stating your gift).

To push the fund over the $25,000 goal line, if need be towards the end of 2012, at its last meeting the club voted to top off the donations so that the scholarship will be fully funded by the beginning of 2013 and give the club the possibility of awarding the first scholarship(s) next Spring.

How to Give

There are different ways to give to the Toledo Roadrunners Club Scholarship Fund in Honor of Pam Graver-Koenig, which is administered by the Toledo Community Foundation.

Check – made payable to Toledo Community Foundation, with a note in the Memo section “Toledo Roadrunners Club Scholarship Fund in Honor of Pam Graver-Koenig”. Mail to Toledo Community Foundation; 300 Madison Avenue, Suite 1300; Toledo, OH 43604. Be sure your check or other correspondence has your current address so the Foundation can issue a thank you letter.